Hiding Valuables Discreetly

Anyone who has ever left for vacation has spent time considering where in their homes to hide their valuables. Well, chances are that a thief has spent even more time pondering where valuables are likely to be hid. All things considered, a safety deposit box in a bank vault is still the best place to keep jewelry and other valuables, but there are some places around your home that make terrific hiding places for important items.

There are some places where experienced thieves are sure to look, such as inside top drawers, underneath any drawer, and behind wall art in the den or bedroom. We suggest you take care to avoid these obvious, or rather popular, caches.

It's a good idea to wrap items in plastic before stashing them. Most of our suggestions are for small objects that can be held in your hand. Take time to look around your place for spaces where you can hide things unobtrusively. You want places that are easily overlooked and will not be disturbed accidentally by a houseguest or neighborhood pet.

The following suggestions are less obvious places than the ones mentioned above, but remember that a determined thief with enough time will probably find what you have in your home. What you're doing here is buying time, hoping that any burglar will be disturbed before getting to your good stuff.

Hide it Easily

Look for easily accessible places, created with a minimum of fuss, which are also easily overlooked by the casual observer. Some good examples of these places are: 

• Bulk dry goods such as jars of rice and flour can hide small valuables and be kept out of the way on the back shelf.
• Condiment containers, such as mustard and mayonnaise jars in your refrigerator, can also hold small items.
• Aspirin or brown pill bottles inside the medicine cabinet can be a good bet.

•   Packages of frozen vegetables can be thawed, and refrozen with items inside them.
• Tennis balls with a small slit in them will return to their original shape. Squeeze the ball to open and stuff, then scatter it among others at the back of a closet.

• Vacuum cleaner bags can hide baggies with valuables inside them.
• Stuffed animals can be cut open (gently, and not around young children) and used as unlikely containers. Cut along a seam, stuff and re-sew Teddy before returning him to his friends.
• Ceiling light fixtures can be unscrewed, and small valuables may be placed within the electrical box underneath.
• Composite "rocks" that have latchable, enclosed spaces within are available through mail-order catalogs. They can be placed outside in the garden.

Create a More Permanent Hiding Spot

These places require a bit more preparation to become effective hidden containers.

• Book safe: glue most of the pages of an old, uninteresting hardcover book together. Use a coping saw to cut a hollow area out of the middle. Drill starter holes for the saw. Then glue the box made with the pages to the back cover and let dry thoroughly. Stash on your bookshelf among other books.
• Steps and flooring have natural hollow spaces underneath. Carpentry skills are required to effectively create a seamless surface that escapes detection
• Hollow core doors can have sections cut out of the hinge edge to give access to the space within the door. Use the cutout piece as a plug
• The tops of poster beds unscrew. Hollow spaces can be drilled out in the posts themselves.  Commercial wall and floor safes should be installed by a professional, and are effective at drastically slowing down the unprepared casual thief.

For further information consider our book "Traveler Beware, An Undercover Cop's Guide To Avoiding Pickpockets, Luggage Theft, and Travel Scams" ISBN No. 0967130204, which can be ordered from our products page. You may also visit our web site which contains over 130 pages of travel safety information.

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